POLITICS

Oyetola downplays ruling nullifying his, deputy’s guber candidacies

Gboyega Oyetola, the governor of Osun state, southwest Nigeria, has downplayed a court ruling that nullified his and his deputy, Benedict Alabi’s candidacies in the previous governorship election.

Oyetola, through his Ismail Omipidan, his chief press secretary, described the lawsuit as “the antics of the opposition PDP and some of their collaborators from within to distract us”.

He said, “The position of the law is that only members of the APC who participated in the primary election can approach the court to challenge the nomination of Oyetola as the candidate of the party.”

The ruling followed Peoples Democratic Party’s suit in which they contested the validity of Oyetola and Alabi’s nominations, which took place when Governor Mai Mala Buni simultaneously held the position of governor and national caretaker committee chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC).

The opposition party argued that Buni violated the provisions of Section 183 of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria and Section 82(3) of the Electoral Act 2022. Based on the illegality, the PDP said Oyetola and Alabi’s nominations and sponsorship for the election was invalid.

Opposing the PDP’s position, Oyetola’s counsel, Kunle Adegoke (SAN), argued the plaintiff did not have the locus to commence the action and that the suit was statute-barred

But, in their defence, PDP lawyers, namely Ogunwumiju (SAN), lO.M. Atoyebi (SAN) and Ademola Abimbola, stated that their client filed the suit under Section 285(14) (c) of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999 (as amended).

After listening to the counsels’ positions, trial judge, Emeka Nwite aligned with the PDP’s position and voided the nominations of Oyetola and Alabi.

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